Connolly: Nine of Swords

[MoonMaiden]

The 9 of Swords figure is happily bearing the 8 swords that stumped our victim of the previous card. He is wearing a smile as he stands in deep snow with the wind whipping his garments.

His legs are wrapped in leather and he is wearing a leather undershirt. One sword is sticking into the snow in front of his left foot. One more affliction or upset is nothing compared to the ones he has already conquered.

His right hand is free to grasp the sword from the snow, if he should care to. The key here seems to be in the light nature of his burden. The prison has been opened and the burden has been shouldered. The smile indicates that he has assimilated the lesson of the 8 swords and now once again feels the joy of life. He is ready to move on to the next lesson.

 

[MoonMaiden]

Ok I think I made a boo-boo in attaching the pic. Ok, got it sorted.

 

[MoonMaiden]

I should probably mention his overdress of blue. The blue of protection shields him from the cold and wind. He has gained the power of awareness that he is never alone - his spiritual protection is ever with him.

 

[Sophie-David]

Interesting MM, I see the card a bit differently. I don't see him smiling, but his face looks blank or numbed. Despair and anxiety have tuned him out from his journey. He no longer cares that he is dropping the swords he had gathered up so carefully. One lies behind his foot in the snow, two or three more are falling out of his grasp. He has walked a long way in desolation and reached the point of thinking that nothing really matters.

When I first look at this card, I always think of a Scotsman carrying a bagpipes, trudging across the snow, playing a mournful dirge. But I agree, there is hope, he is still strong, and the blue cloak suggests that spiritual transformation may come from out of his sorrow.

 

[MoonMaiden]

Interesting about what we see differently in this one, eh?

When I saw the swords, I saw them as caught within his garment, like they were sheathed within sewn pockets - hanging precariously, yes, but nevertheless within his control. And I definitely saw his smile. Not a smile like we might visualize when we think of a smile, but a self-satisfaction, a confidence. He is sure of himself, and sure of his ability to handle his current situation. He is dressed for the cold, the wind, the harshness of his life. He is strong, able, yang.

I remember when I used to live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The first winter I was there, the wind chill was -90 F. I had a friend who loved the winter. He was a very short, yang guy and he counselled me to embrace the cold, to revel in it. That change of consciousness made me see winter in a new light. Instead of shivering and complaining of the cold, I enjoyed it. It made me stronger and more alive. This is what I see in this figure of the 9 of swords. He has embraced his environment, his state of consciousness, and he is not a victim, but a victor.

 

[Sophie-David]

Word versus Image

Hi MoonMaiden

I can see your interpretation also, it makes sense to me. But the problem for me is that it contradicts Eileen Connolly's interpretation, from the LWB, page 14:

Despair and anxiety cause misery and a sense of hopelessness. Release you old burdens. Keep moving forward. Don't look back.

Also, since my other decks associate anxiety and despair with the Nine of Swords, I really don't want to get myself confused. I certainly don't mind a shift in emphasis between decks, but I would find it hard to deal with larger changes of meaning. What I actually seem to be doing is gradually synthesizing the meanings between several decks and building up an individualized understanding of my own.

I'm not suggesting that there is a right answer here, just that at this point it would be awkward for me to diverge too much from a standard meaning. Of the two good readers who I know in person, my mentor reads very close to the book meaning (although she almost never refers to the actual book anymore) and my daughter goes almost entirely on what the image says to her. Both are accurate and intuitive readers, its just a difference in style. The intuition still has free play in both approaches, but for one person the image is the starting point, and for the other the word.

Now this reminds me of one of my favourite books, Leonard Shlain's The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image. Leonard's thesis is that literacy, for all its undoubted benefits, did not come without a price. The focus on the word at the expense of the image was part of the historical process that shifted humanity from right brain to left brain thinking, from goddess to god worship, and from sexual parity to male dominance. He sees the revitalization of the image in contemporary society and the connectedness of the feminine electronic Web as positive trends that coincide with and reinforce the emancipation of women and the return to goddess worship.

I suspect that for me at this point, it is important not to be totally overtaken by the rise of the internal feminine. Allowing the word to have priority within the Tarot helps to keep me in some sort of balance while working in a very intuitive and creative medium. It keeps Capricorn's old goat grounded while the Aquarians soar and the Saggitarians and Lions ignite.

Blessings
David

 

[wandking]

Like many Connolly depictions I see a strong influence of RWS in this card. Waite writes: "One seated on her couch in lamentation, with the swords over her. She is as one who knows no sorrow which is like unto hers. It is a card of utter desolation." Crowley mirrors this dismal meaning by writing: "The Nine of Swords is called Cruelty. Here the original disruption inherent in Swords is raised to its highest power. The card is ruled by Mars in Gemini; it is agony of mind. The Ruach consumes itself in this card; thought has gone through every possible stage, and the conclusion is despair." I find nothing that seriously disputes these interpretations in the Connolly artwork. I find only the completness of a numeric nine coupled with the Waite view that "Swords generally are not symbolical of beneficent forces in human affairs." Although I don't endorse every Connelly image, she obviously did her homework on the Nine of Swords.

 

[Sophie-David]

Hi Wandking

Since MoonMaiden and I saw quite different things in our separate interpretations of the image - although mine was certainly influenced by what the words said it was supposed to be about - I would be interested in what you actually saw in the image itself...

Cheers
David

 

[wandking]

First Swords deal with Air-signs, so I look to the sky... See the gray clouds? Snow might be perceived as nice by some but I find it as cold as the steel of a sword. It isn't only the cold implied by snow, it's a wind-driven, bone-chilling cold that this card features. The figure does not appear happy to me at all, as swords fall from his grasp. It might appear that I find no positive aspects in this card, however, I feel that, like much of the Swords Suit, this card not only offers sorrow but also a solution. As a rule, the Nine of Swords indicates a current issue but it can also thrust forth as a menacing threat of what might occur if circumstances persist. This card can warn of a chink in psychological armoring that needs protection, shown by the mental clarity that swords offer, falling away. An undefended aspect in his life invites a harsh truth to slash through delusion. As clarity falls away, problems associated with the upcomming transition of ten can spawn anxiety. The Nine of Swords teaches us to ignore non-existent perils (like the swords falling from his keep) as it illuminates real issues (like the wind and cold) which we can address before they cause damage. Indeed, in this symbolism we lose a little clarity epitomized by the Swords suit but we gain a perspective of the real issues. This card implies that after overcoming anguish we can grow. Painful situations often trigger inner strength, which this figure shows with an expression of resolve, instead of a smile.

 

[Sophie-David]

Thank you Wandking, it was great to have a third opinion. I particularly liked your conclusion about the "expression of resolve": "Painful situations often trigger inner strength, which this figure shows with an expression of resolve, instead of a smile".